About Me

Hi and Welcome to Reluctant landlord!

I am Elizabeth Colegrove, a passionate investor who was so tired of hearing that it wasn’t possible to be successful in real estate that I started this blog. As a transparent landlord, I not only talk about how to be successful in the world of real estate, but also my love for life in traveling, frugal living, and all my other crazy ideas that keep our tiny family on our toes.

I am blessed to be happily married to an amazing Navy man for the past five years. We are happy DINKS (Dual Income No Kids), but we do have an amazing kitty princess named Missy who is the best eight pound kitty a mommy would want!

Our Investing Story:As a self-proclaimed city girl who told her husband she could live anywhere for his first duty station, South Texas was my undoing. At the ripe old age of 22, I declared that when my husband retired from the Navy (his dream) that we were going to be financially independent so we could live where we wanted.

After LOTS of frugal living and resourcefulness, we bought our first home which was a foreclosure. Through a lot of sweat equity and my husband’s amazing DIY skills we fixed it up. After we moved on from that house, we bought a short sale. Through tons of baby steps, we added many more houses. We are now are at seven houses and counting!

My next goal is to have ten houses by May 2016. Even through the craziness we learned to self-manage our homes from across the country and learned how to put together an amazing lease together. You can check out my e-books (coming soon) with all our tips and tricks!

Why The Name Reluctant Landlord? I will be the first to tell you that we are not reluctant landlords. I eagerly await every opportunity whether it’s a PCS or another chance to buy a house. For us, owning houses helps us meet our final goal: early retirement.

Without our portfolio of houses, our personal finances and net worth wouldn’t be where they currently are nor would we be on our way to owning an empire! Now, it’s true we wouldn’t be here without frugal living, which is why you you will find frugal living is an integral part of this blog. There is no way we would be where we are if we had only saved.

About the Blog: While I understand that nor everyone is cut out to be a landlord or is a person who joyously looks forward to building their housing empire, the point of this blog is to teach the not-so-voluntary landlords how to be successful, and to encourage and empower them.

Being a landlord, living frugally, and traveling, is my lifestyle. My husband and I do this so we can have an early retirement, but also so that we can enjoy what we LOVE. So follow us on our journey of not only growing our empire successfully (and learning how), but also learning how we travel, live frugally and have fun too! I am so glad to have you on this journey.

I love my family, my country and real estate. My goal is to retire early through frugal living and real estate investment. I am making great strides and want to share the information I've learned through the process. Read More...